Nigel Lee: loving the lost, passionate for Christ, 1946-2006

When Nigel Lee first discovered he had life-threatening cancer he said to a friend ‘this is when people get to see if I really believe all I’ve been preaching about all these years.’

We have. He did. And now he is with the Lord in the glory of eternity and the famous Lee smile is broader than ever.

Nigel’s craggy good looks, lively eyes and huge, toothy smile were the first things you noticed about him. His smile entered a room two feet in front of the rest of him, bespeaking his passion for the Lord and love for people. He was one of the most immediately engaging people you could ever meet. Everything about him made people want to follow Jesus, and to follow him as he followed Jesus. One friend said recently, ‘there are plenty of excellent teachers whom I enjoy learning from, but Nigel’s passion for God and his glory made me want to be like him’.

Thousands of us did, especially among the younger generation of evangelists and preachers who he befriended, encouraged, mentored and passed the torch to. An internet search for Nigel Lee produces surprisingly little. His legacy isn’t in print but in the transformed lives of countless individuals around the world.

Early life

Nigel was born in Chesterfield in 1946, only son of William and Helen Lee and older brother to Bridget. His main schooling was at Dulwich College, from where he went to Trinity College Cambridge in 1965 to read English. Just before going up to Cambridge Nigel committed his life to the Lord during a time in Africa. Friends from Cambridge days recall life-changing times of encouraging each other to understand and teach Scripture and the growth among them of a deep passion to pray for the world. Several particularly recall the night Nigel introduced them to George Verwer at a meeting in his rooms.

Nigel was a regular at CICCU’s daily prayer meeting and was emerging as a zealous and effective evangelist. He was the member of his CU group who visited Prince Charles in his student rooms to invite him to freshers events. In the spring of 1967 Nigel was baptised by immersion at Roseford Hall Brethren Assembly in Cambridge, which represented a serious commitment to following Scripture wholeheartedly.

OM India

Following graduation Nigel went to India with Operation Mobilisation. OM colleagues recall the impact on many lives of his welcoming leadership style, passionate skill at opening the Bible and ability to mentor and develop other leaders. The stories of bold — some might say brazen — evangelistic escapades from those days could fill whole books and made for breath-taking listening. On one occasion he was stoned for preaching Christ.

One leader, still in India, recently said: ‘Given a chance, there would be many Indian leaders giving their tribute for this outstanding leader of men and saying their thank-yous for India. We were privileged to see such a talent and commitment channelled in such an effective way. Where are the Nigels from the UK today?’ George Verwer recalls Nigel as ‘a very special servant and friend to the whole ministry of OM’. It was also in India that Nigel courted Tricia, whom he had previously met in Belgium (some friends suggest that the OM rules for courtship were ‘imaginatively reinterpreted’ — perhaps this was where Nigel picked up his renowned maxim that ‘it is easier to get forgiveness than permission’).

Ministry to young people

Returning to the UK Nigel taught for a brief period at Alleyn School in Dulwich, London. He led CU missions, was part of OM leadership conferences attracting 1,000s of young leaders, co-convened the Swanwick Conference of Christian Brethren and was widely involved in preaching, teaching and the training of leaders here and abroad. More recently he was a familiar face at Word Alive and the Keswick Convention. For two periods totaling nearly 20 years he was an elder at Saltisford and Myton church. His colleagues in local church leadership found his contribution ‘colossal’, especially at faithfully applying the Scriptures to real world lives.

At the recent memorial service fellow elder Kim Hubbard recalled that ‘at prayer meetings Nigel’s warmth and insight would be a tremendous encouragement to everyone present, lifting us above the mundane and parochial’.

Work at UCCF

In 1992 Nigel became Head of Student Ministries for UCCF where his passion for prayer and world mission became enduring hallmarks of the CU movement. Few who attended Forum (the annual CU leaders’ conference) will forget impassioned nights of prayer for the world. Many leaders within UCCF recall urgent times of intercession, with the fragrant presence of the Lord strongly manifested among them.

IFES General Secretary Lindsay Brown identifies three of Nigel’s initiatives from UCCF days that have had a profound impact on student witness all round the world. The first was modelling university missions and being an example to mission speakers from other countries. The second, the introduction of The Big Idea gospel projects — national student missions with the distribution of hundreds of thousands of student-friendly versions of a gospel, all given with personal invitations to consider the claims of Christ. Since God gave this vision to Nigel in a dream in the early 90s, CUs have run four such projects in the UK, over 50 have run in other countries and European student movements are currently planning many more. The third initiative was the introduction, with Nigel Pollock, of the Relay intern programme. Relay dramatically increased the provision of student workers in the UK, has sent many workers around the world and has become a model for similar schemes in many other countries.

Servanthood

I first met Nigel Lee as a Relay worker in 1993. A group of us green beginners were washing up at Forum after a session had begun, when Nigel led all the senior staff into the kitchen and sent us to the session while they cleared up. I will never forget that lesson in leadership. Subsequently I regularly witnessed Nigel eagerly taking initiative to do humble, menial and unpleasant tasks. Very few people are highly gifted as both Bible teachers and evangelists — and he was one of the best of his generation in both categories — but above all Nigel was a leader who knew that Christian leadership is servanthood.

Following his time in UCCF, Nigel spent several years as consultant in evangelism and Bible teaching with the Whitfield Institute and gained a large and appreciative audience through broadcasting Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4. His commitment to leadership in his church continued to his life’s end.

Memorial service

At Nigel’s memorial service on April 6, we were reminded, in his own words, that he was no ‘plastic saint, but a sinner saved by grace’. In his last weeks he told friends: ‘My security lies not in any achievements but in the fact that my name is written in Heaven. My acceptance is on the sole basis of what Christ has done for me. I am accepted and I am expected there.’ Preaching at the memorial service close friend Professor John Lennox said: ‘Nigel Lee has not ceased to be. He is — in heaven. For years it was his goal, now it is his home.’

At times he could be very direct and forthright. An iconoclast who loathed anything that smelt of religiosity or evangelical factional politics, Nigel was a leader of rare and exemplary character and integrity for whom the gospel of the Lord Jesus was more important — far more important — than his life. His winsome evangelism and warm Bible teaching have transformed many lives and started thousands on the road to becoming evangelists and preachers. He was never afraid to ask the hard questions, whether pastorally to individuals or corporately of the evangelical church as a whole, but always with warmth and love for God’s people.

World Christian

Nigel Lee was a world Christian with a global vision and an inspirational and infectious preaching gift. Often a rogue, not afraid of risks of faith, a prince among Bible teachers, he loved the lost and was passionate for the glory of Christ all over the world. He was one of the most influential ambassadors for Christ of his generation and he finished well. ‘To live is Christ and to die is gain’ was written all over his life and his death. We are deeply grateful to God for him.

Nigel died on March 30. Our prayers are with his wife Tricia, children Alison, Sheona and Jonny, parents William and Helen, and new baby granddaughter Damaris.

Obituary